School warns it will destroy students' fidget spinners

One Southland school has put a warning out to their students about bringing fidget spinners to school.

Waverly Park School in Invercargill released a newsletter last week saying any fidget spinners found at school would be confiscated and held at the mercy of one "lucky staff member."

"As of Tuesday 6 June, any 'fidget spinner' on the school's property will become the school's property, up until it is totally destroyed by the lucky staff member whose name will [be] drawn from a hat," the newsletter read.

The school says the "definitive reaction" is because they have reached their "collective tipping-point with frequent and multiple interruptions to learning.

It could be dark times for fidget spinner owners at the school with a final warning that "no correspondence will be entered into" if they are confiscated, meaning negotiations will be off the table for those caught with the popular toy.

However principals and teachers around the country are becoming increasingly concerned about the latest international toy craze that's reached our shores.

Fidget spinners which are a hand-held toy consisting of a bearing in the centre of a three-pronged device, and held by two fingers and spun, are among the 20 most-popular toys being sold on Amazon.

In May, Principals' Federation national president Whetu Cormick agreed they look more like a distraction.

"Every school has its own policy or procedure around bringing toys into the school, and it would be a surprise to me if teachers and school managers would allow such toys in the classroom because they would just cause a distraction to the learning process," he said.

"I personally see no benefit of such devices being at school or in the classroom."